Becoming weather-proof.... And preparing for darker days.

“There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes”.

Not too long ago, the most brilliant thing was said to me that I still haven’t forgotten today.

“You have to fight your own demons in life. You have to learn what they are, what they look like for you. And fight them.”

In that moment something quite vital was being revealed to me - that everyone has their own battles. That perhaps don’t smell or sound like mine, but were battles all the same. There in that moment I was being introduced to the power of self knowledge, perspective and personal accountability.

Resilience is born under those black clouds that meet with us all. If we are sharp enough to accept them as part of the fabric of living, we might also learn to expect them to pass. Resilience is found in quiet acts of kindness, humility and humanity. It exists in noticing and acknowledging the small wins, the tiny marks, the distance already crossed.

It’s important to determine that our “demons” (in this context the term should be read without any implicit religious connotations) are entirely unique to us. The things we fear the most, varies from person to person. 

If we can learn to identify obstacles, difficult thoughts or periods of anxiety as simply a dark sky or a fallow season: we can introduce optimism and a quiet confidence that things will shift. We may, as a result, become steady, serene and somewhat weather resistant.

The Scandinavians have a saying most have heard - “there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes”.

What if we applied that logic to our darker moments. Perhaps we might observe that being better prepared, might look like fully expecting black clouds to resurge, but also to pass again. 

Being prepared may look like self insight, noticing our limits, observing our triggers or introducing powerful self-care habits in the form of exercise, friendship, romance or adventure.

Part of navigating dark days is understanding where your control actually lies. Where can you really be proactive and what might be best left alone, accepted or rested on.

This is partly trial and error, partly intuition and party a matter of luck. Learning to catch ourselves earlier rather than later, will give us a greater chance of moving through bleaker times. This may look like sharing or regularly checking in with others, saying yes more or perhaps even no. 

Ask yourself. “What feels lightest”. And explore that. Perhaps your life is calling in a little more effort or perhaps it requires a little rest. Get to know some fail-safe strategies and perhaps invent some entirely new methodologies.

Accept that everyone has dark days. It’s a reality worth preparing for and strategising for when it does arise. Get to know yourself and play with a combined formula of both weather-proof tools and actions of spontaneity. 

You may just find those dark clouds pass far more smoothly and far sooner than first anticipated.